Wednesday, February 15, 2012

hey, long time no see

Ditched this blog for almost 3 weeks already. Looking at my sidebar, I wonder if there's anyone who still blogs nowadays.

So, time passed, a lot of things happened. Every week passed in a blink of an eye. July is drawing closer. I still have a handful of clinical requirements to be completed. Trying my best to complete everything. Selebihnya, tawakkaltu'alAllah.

Today, I performed surgical removal of impacted tooth 38 under local anaesthesia for the very first time in my life. I was too anxious yesterday that I lied wide awake on my bed for two hours before finally falling asleep. After such a long time, I finally experienced tension headache once again. I'm a human after all :) Read a few chapters related to it in a textbook more than three times, replaying Youtube videos of such cases again and again, sent prayers, and I even called Umi, asking for her words of support. Alhamdulillah, I completed the procedure within thirty minutes. Special thanks to Dr Hariani (I still feel guilty for mistaking her for Dr Hazel) for willing to assist me during the procedure and allowing me to do every single thing starting from local anaesthesia administration up to suturing. Creating incisional flap was fun! It sure was more fun than using an electrosurgery kit. I expected my knees to weaken when blood started to gush out, but, Alhamdulillah, I was actually ecstatic. One thing for sure... I finally got to feel how hard vital bones actually are - enough to convince me that it is perfectly alright to use it as a fulcrum during tooth elevation. A confession to make - since I had been playing around with old dead bones during my first three years of DDS., I actually thought they're somewhat brittle. As in... not strong enough for me to treat them slightly more aggressively, but it's actually super strong! Nonetheless, ten minutes were spent from local anaesthesia administration up to tooth elevation and about TWENTY minutes were spent just for suturing alone. Alhamdulillah, I got to experience suturing of fragile tissue too. More fragile than wounds I sutured before.

Too much of medical/dental mumbo jumbos? Yes, I guess, but I just can't translate them into laymen term. Gomen ne.

Anyway, recently during a clinical presentation by my peer, Dr Sarliza who was pointing out her grammatical errors, called out my name a few times, saying, "Kan Zahirah? You rasa betul ke ayat tu?", to me. Ngaaaaa, does that mean I'm a grammar Nazi now? Or rather... have I been a grammar Nazi all these while? Honestly, I don't mind minor grammar/spelling/vocabulary mistakes, but those major ones... just irritate the hell out of me. I'm not quite sure why. I guess reading sentences such as 'patient don't want to see doctor' really shatters one's focus. My English isn't good as well, but yeah... having said so, that doesn't mean that I'm allowed to continue and stay like this forever. After all, learning is a lifelong thingy, isn't it? So, don't be afraid. Speak the language more often. Don't feel embarrassed when making mistakes, but make sure you upgrade yourself with time. And please don't make 9GAG your reference.

At one point, I really think that my patients are trying to encourage me at being fatter - not that I'm not fat enough, but all these food and snacks!! Thank you, dear patients. Kamu ialah sebahagian daripada amanah saya :)